A public jailbreak for iOS 6 could be coming soon, according to tweets by prominent hackers. One hacker, planetbeing, says that "tons of progress" has been made in recent days, and that "the future is looking bright for jailbreaking." He claims in fact that an exploit of his is already working, but that he's been testing it to ensure no "unpleasant side-effects."

A post by pod2g suggests that the hacking community is waiting until Apple releases iOS 6.1 to put the final touches on jailbreak code. Apple regularly breaks the exploits used in jailbreaks with new iOS releases, and so hackers will often wait until firmware is out to prevent Apple from quickly undoing their efforts. iOS 6 has proven especially difficult to crack.

iOS 6.1 could be released as soon as today. The current v6.1 beta expires on Sunday night, and as Apple doesn't post new firmware on weekends, today it will likely have to issue a new beta or the final product.

Jailbreaking technically becomes illegal on new devices in the US on Saturday, unless authorized by a carrier or device maker. That law will be difficult to enforce however, and iOS hackers have shown no inclination to stop their development.